Max Muncy, aka “Mad Max” just cemented his place in Legendary Dodger Lore after jacking a massive home run into McCovey Cove off of Madison Baumgarner. MadBum allegedly took umbrage when Max blasted the 424 foot home run and enjoyed watching it as it left his bat. I mean, what is wrong with that? However, MadBum yelled at Muncy to stop watching the ball and start running, to which MadMax responded with a perfectly classic line that will go down in Dodger History:
“If you don’t want to watch me run, you can go in the ocean and get it.”
If I were Max, I might have ended that sentence with a word that rhymes with “itch,” but that was still epic. MadBum was good. Striker Buehler was better and MadMax was the difference.
Madison Baumgarner is intense and insane. The Dodgers know how to rile him up (Yasiel Puig was exceptionally good at it) and no matter where he pitches, they will control him… because they know how. That may very well be the last time the Dodgers face Bum in a Giants uniform, but it won’t be the last time they see him. He could end up in San Diego, Atlanta, Houston or New York.
Max Muncy is just a baller, who is going to give it his all and enjoy playing. He has been through the struggles and bad times in Oakland and he is in baseball paradise now. You just have to love this guy and what he does.
Why Yordan Alvarez Was Traded
Yordan Alvarez made his debut as an Astro yesterday and was 1-3 with a HR and a walk. On the cover, it looks like Andrew Friedman gave him away, and he almost did, as the take-back was Josh Fields who is now long gone. I am sure if Friedman could have a “Mulligan” he might want Alvarez back, but Josh Fields, while not a star, was an important piece in the Dodger pen for parts of three years.
In his Dodger career, Josh was 8-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 117 Innings. His WHIP was 1.040, so he was certainly effective, if only for parts of three years. Josh had a 4.53 ERA with Houston in parts of 4 years, so coming to LA was the highlight of his career. It may turn out that Alvarez is another Willie Calhoun, in that he might have a skillet as a glove. It sounds like he is a DH for sure if you believe what Jake Kaplin of The Athletic writes:
But because of major questions concerning his defense, opinions of Alvarez’s potential oscillate much more than they do for Houston’s other top prospects, pitchers Forrest Whitley and Corbin Martin and outfielder Kyle Tucker. Astros officials have been giddy about the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Cuban slugger since they first got him into their complex in the Dominican Republic in August 2016. But around the industry, he’s not even a consensus Top 100 prospect.
“It’s true that there are some defensive issues there. But if he can be even remotely adequate with the glove, which seems possible to me, I think there’s enough upside in the bat that the defense is just not going to be that much of an issue,” said John Sickels, prospects expert for The Athletic.Eric Longenhagen, Lead prospect analyst for FanGraphs (125th): “We have him in a category of player that is essentially first base/DH only. The way we try to look at it is, ‘How much from a WAR standpoint is each player likely to produce during their first six years of big league service time?’ So, between his defensive limitations and the body, the way that might age during that six-year stretch, we tended to round him down.
Like Willie Calhoun, Alvarez will likely be a DH, so he was not going to play for the Dodgers who value defense and versatility. When Friedman traded him, Yordon was but 18 and I am sure Andrew had no idea he might be this good. We shall see how it plays out.
Tonight, the Boys of Summer go up against the Angels and we know what Tommy says about that:
“The only Angels in Los Angeles are in Heaven, and they’re looking down on the Dodgers.”
Photo Credit: Michael Urakami/MLB.com
Minor League Report by DC
Great Lakes Loons 10 – South Bend Cubs 0
The “mercy rule” was brought into play in the Loons game as it was called after seven complete innings with the Loons leading the Cubs 10-0. Actually for the Cubs rain mercifully shut down the game with South Bend having just one hit on the day.
Nineteen-year-old Robinson Ortiz had the game of his young career giving up a single hit in five innings with three walks and five strikeouts. He was quite efficient with 66 pitches, 42 of them strikes. Unheralded Justin Hagenman followed suit with two perfect innings and three strikeouts.
Great Lakes scored in five of the seven innings played. They scored two runs in each of the first two innings in an interesting fashion. Three came in via the sac fly and one on a ground out. Three were scored in the bottom of the fifth on a James Outman three-run home run. Two were added in the sixth on a HBP and a single while the last run in the seventh scored on ground ball out.
Every Loon except Luke Heyer had an RBI with Jair Camargo, Chris Roller and James Outman recording two hits.
Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 5 – Inland Empire 66ers 3 ( LAA)
Josiah Gray started for the Quakes and tossed five innings giving up three runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out nine. Only one run was earned with two coming home with two out after a Devin Mann error. Connor Strain pitched a scoreless inning while Austin Drury in his A+ debut pitched two scoreless and hitless innings. He did walk three with two strikeouts. Connor Mitchell came on to close things out in the bottom of the ninth and picked up his first save.
The Quakes surged ahead with a three-run third inning with runs batted in on a Drew Avans double, a rehabbing Matt Beaty double and a Deacon Liput single. Starling Heredia stroked his fifth home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning. He now has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games. They tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning on a Connor Wong double, a passed ball and a Drew Avans bunt.
Tulsa Drillers 7 – Arkansas Travelers 11 (Seattle)
The Travelers again dominated the Drillers and have gone 18-8 in the first half against the Dodgers AA affiliate. The Drillers might have been looking for the “mercy rule” trailing 11-0 after five innings. Right-hander Edwin Uceta did not get out of the second inning giving up seven earned runs with no outs, including two home runs. Andre Scrubb and Ryan Mosely really didn’t cool off the Travelers surrendering two runs each in the next five innings. Nolan Long with two and Marshall Kasowski with one finished up with three scoreless innings.
The Drillers responded to the trouncing in the bottom of the sixth inning scoring seven runs with eight hitters reaching base. The decisive blows were two run hits by a Gavin Lux triple, a Christian Santana double and a Keibert Ruiz double. That finished the scoring for Tulsa with Lux having the only multiple hit game with two.
OKC Dodgers 4 – Fresno Grizzlies 5 (Washington)
Tony Gonsolin started for the Dodgers and went three innings giving up one run on one hit, 2 walks along with three strikeouts. Adam McCreery pitched two innings allowing one inherited runner to score but not allowing any more damage. Josh Sborz went 1.1 innings and gave up two runs pulling the Grizzlies within one run of the Dodgers. Kevin Quackenbush in his 1.1 innings gave up only a hit. JT Chargois was called upon to get the last three outs and failed to do so, although he was the victim of some poor defense. After a walk, a bad bounce single, a stolen base and a short fly ball that should be caught plus a botched double play effort the Grizzlies took a 5-4 lead.
The Dodgers scored in each of the first three innings to take a 4-0 lead on a Shane Peterson sac fly, an Errol Robinson solo home run and a Zach Reks two-run home run. That ended the scoring for OKC who had to settle for six hits.
Discussion (87)
Disagree, not disagreeable
How stupid can someone be to give a 25 million dollar contract over 3 years to an average relief pitcher. I say average because his career OPS against was over 700 beginning this season.
Don’t give me the bull crap about him getting lucky in the world series last year.
Doc sucks because every reliever he has but Jansen is just terrible! He took Stripling out because Trout kills off speed and then Floro throws him back to back sliders. Just stupid! In a tight game he has nobody he can use! And Kelly is now comical! And our offense in a funk right now
I listened to Dave Roberts explanation of what happened and it was BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Enough said.
Well that really was something to behold. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a wild 8th innings.
There was the full assortment of terrible pitches, and a few good ones.
Poor old Russ Martin must be black and blue.
Have to say I was surprised not to see Yimi come in.
The Dodgers really have a problem now about what to do with Kelly.
He can’t seriously pitch for us again like that?
Nice, Kelly in to blow the game. I could have predicted this.
Joc looks like he’s pressing now.
Trying to hit his way out of this slump.
Ryu with another solid start.
Well enough Bumgarner talk. How about Ryu with 2 strikeouts of Trout!
The Ace is battling today.
Bumgarner is a crybaby plain and simple. My only reservation on him being a dodger is can he pitch. The thought of him facing kershaw in game 7 makes me nauseous. Although they won’t trade directly they could engage in a 3 way trade. If AF determined he was worth obtaining I would hold my nose and cheer. Moot point because we know it won’t happen. I just dread the idea of facing him in the playoffs.
I would go for Holland if available over Giles. Holland is a junkyard dog who needs to become relevant again. But, dealing with the dbacks will probably prevent that. I’m afraid it would be too big of a stage for Giles. Probably go back to the reds for their closer plus gennett. The reds will probably want to shed salary and will want to field a full dodger 8.
I agree AC, he looked really comfortable throwing it, and it had some life to it. That could be his new out pitch. Maybe him and Kershaw are taking a cue from Ryu and pitching smarter instead of being predictable.
Also in all the commotion over yesterdays game, did you guys notice Kenley and his bad ass slider? Joe Davis and Hershisher were very impressed. He threw it more than he threw the cutter, and made some guys look foolish. I hope he starts using that pitch more, he seems to be real accurate with it. It also sets up his other pitches. Both him and Kershaw seem to be reinventing themselves on how they pitch as they get older. I like it.
Bumgarner can pump his fist, yell and scream but doesn’t like it when someone takes a second to admire a ball that was absolutely crushed. He’s a tool and a hypocrite. I’ve seen him yell at guys who were upset they missed a pitch that had to hit and wound up popping up. I’ve seen him yelling a the Cubs players during spring training for supposedly signaling signs from 2nd base. Don’t like other people’s reactions then get them out. I loved Muncy’s reaction to that redneck.
Tonight at Los Angeles (of Anaheim):
Joc
Muncy (3b)
JT (DH)
Belly
Seager
Verdugo
Martin
CT3 (2b)
Kike (1b): because, why not!
Ryu on the mound
I think a better reply by Max would of been like, uh excuse me sir but did you see how far I hit that. Pardon me while I gaze at it a while and then flip my bat. With a whole bunch of SOBs and MFers all mixed in at varying intervals.
Seriously, you wouldn’t want MadBum because he’s too competitive, Wow! Maybe Darvish will be available.
No on Harper, No on Machado
YES on Bumgarner.
There’s no chance but Yes!
I like a man with fire in his belly
and MadBum has some.
I’d much rather have him on our hill that the other team’s.
I have heard rumors of two of Houston’s young prospects for Bumgarner. Allegedly Houston is will to part with Alvarez for him, but not Fisher.
Why all the commotion about only scoring one run vs Bumgarner? I don’t like him either. He’s one of the premier lefties in the majors which brings up another point. It may not be common knowledge but we have the BEST record in the NL vs LHP at 13-9. the equates to 96 wins during the season if LHP were all we faced.
Also our top three hitters vs LHP are LHH(Verdugo @ .352; Bells @ .309; Muncy @ (.301). Kiki @ .272 and Freese @ 255 round out the top 5. Just FYI.
BTW: We are 4th out of 30 teams vs beating LHP
I’m not a fan of Giles. He flamed out in 2016 after Houston acquired him from Philly to be closer. He was bad in the post-season in 2017. His ERA last year with the ‘Stros and the Jays was almost 5 and his WHIP was over 1.2. So he’s having a good year this year – he’s been bad all of ’16, the post-season in ’17, and all of last year.
No thanks.
Bumgarner has post season success and most would say that he would help any team in the post season including the Dodgers. I don’t want him on the Dodgers though unless he were obtained in the off season and pitches all year for the Dodgers. I don’t want to win a WS bad enough to have Bumbarner pitch in more than one WS game this year. To think he might start 3 games and be the player to give the Dodgers a championship is not a story I want to unfold.
Sean Doolittle is struggling again even after looking at video to possibly correct some mechanic issues. I’ve been patiently waiting for him to turn it around because well the Dodgers bullpen issues and because he has had a good career and I was thinking the Dodgers could use him. But the Nationals are not out of contention in their division and add that Doolittle is still struggling after watching video.
So I’m looking at Ken Giles and Greg Holland. Giles will be under contract through next year but Holland is set to be a free agent after this year. Still I think these 2 guys would be the best options for the Dodgers (Just my opinion).
First they have the career stats to back up their 2019 stats.
Second they probably wouldn’t cost too much in a trade.
You never know, the Dodgers might be able to keep Holland for more than just this year.
With Giles some might point to a bad 2017 postseason with the Astros, but c’mon it’s 1 example, a small sample.
Bumgarner is a putz. That being said, he’s a great money pitcher.
And anyone who puts more vitriol in the Dodgers/Giants rivalry is OK – gives me another reason to hate him.
I am no fan of players who watch their handiwork, are overly- demonstrative, or try to show up another player. It’s bush league. Someone else here asked what Drysdale would have done after that. He would have sat the next 3 guys down on their butts. And Muncy next time he got up.
And if DD had been facing Bumgarner, he would have dusted the next 3 Giants’ hitter too.
Like Vince Lombardi said in 1967, “act like you’ve been there before”.
MadBum is a very good (great) pitcher that every team would love to have. That being said, he does have anger management issues. Even the Giant blogs are all over him for this latest incident.
Farhan has stated he would have no problem trading with the Dodgers. Andrew has more or less indicated the same thing in reverse. A trade for the Giants Will Smith is a definite possibility. Madbum is playing his last six weeks for the Giants, but one thing I can say with absolute certainty: if Farhan traded either Madbum or Posey to the Dodgers his life would literally not be worth two cents in SF. He would need 24 hour protection from his own fans.
Anyone else on the roster and Giants fans would learn to live with it because they would get back players that Zaidi knows are worth something, but not Madbum or Posey. Luckily, for everyone concerned, we really have no need for either of those guys and certainly wouldn’t be willing to pay the price that they would command.
I’d take MadBum on my team any day of the week (especially if that week happened to fall in October!)
I understand that MadBum plays for Satan, but why all the vitriol about what he said? He did not curse Muncy. He told him to run and quit watching the ball, and Muncy had a great comeback. It was dramatic and fun to watch. Bumgarner did not put one in JT’s ear one batter later or drill Muncy on his next AB.
Nobody has any problem with Buehler doing the same thing on a runner not going back to the dugout “quick enough”? That is okay? It is okay because Buehler is a Dodger. For all those upset with MadBum, I ask again… if you are upset with MadBum’s words, would you accept Drysdale drilling the next batter as we all know he would have? Yes, because DD was a Dodger.
Belli, Muncy, Verdugo and Seager can all hit lefties too. I don’t get why we struggle so much. I still think a big right handed bat in left would be a good addition for the playoffs. I think I’d rather have someone like Castellanos who kills lefties rather than Taylor for the playoffs. And he’s not having a good season so we could pick him up on the cheap and see if he turns it around the last few months of the season. One utility guy either Kiki or Taylor would be fine for the playoffs.
Who is going to put this Idiot Bumgarmer in his place. Imagine if Dietrich from the Reds had hit a home run against him and watched it like he did against Archer in Pittsburgh ?? Muncy did nothing wrong. And Roberts said he respects Bumgarmer or something instead of defending Muncy. This guy Bumgarmer is crazy always does the same thing when someone hits a home run against him . What an Idiot. I am glad Puig stood up to him and Muncy too. But i think Puig would have charged him .
Wonder if both Gray and Downs will be in AA before the year is out.
Thoughts and prayers out to David Ortiz (one of my favorites) and his family…
speedy recovery Big Papi…
As a follow up to DC who wrote to me earlier this AM, we should not just gloss over the game that Robinson Ortiz had last night. He has had a rough start to his first full season A Ball career, but yesterday’s game was a grand recovery. The young man is all of 19, and is nearly three years younger than the average age player in the Midwest League. He looks to be a good lefty with a ceiling as a back end of the rotation starter, but with a high enough floor to be a quality reliever in a high leverage situation. He is not the next Urias or Kershaw, but he is someone to watch.
It’s great to see the good guys win when the offense is slumping a little bit. Especially since we aren’t supposed to win when out offense scores 2 runs or less. Amazing things happen when your pen can get outs are the end of the game. An additional arm will lengthen the back end of games and make these more winnable.
Turner, Pederson, Belli, and Verdugo are all banged up a little bit. I hope they get better soon because the rest of the June schedule is loaded against division rivals after we play the Angels, then the Cubbies at home.
We need to get better against left handers. 1 run scored over 12 innings against the Giant’s lefties isn’t going to cut it. Kike and Taylor are not getting the job done. Sure, that could change. Sure, they’ll probably have some hot streaks in them, but after 2 months into the season I’m unconvinced that either are more than bench pieces. Good bench pieces, but bench pieces nonetheless. Their both good despite their flaws. Kike can’t hit righties much better than Joc can hit lefties and CT3 still strike out way too much. But, they both play great defense and often come up clutch in big moments. Great attributes for bench pieces, and there isn’t anything wrong with that.
Like many others out there, I would like to see more consistency to the lineup. That could happen once Pollock comes back from his yearly hiatus on the DL. He’s lined up to resume “baseball activities” in just a couple of days now and should be back after a rehab stint. I’m thinking 10 – 12 days based on the 50 ABs that Doc said he needs to get ready. Just in time to face off against his old team in his old park on the 24th of June. With Pollock, Freese, Turner and the catching tandem, we should have just enough right handed bats to do a little more damage against lefties.
The rest of June is gonna be a fun ride.
I’m sure I’m in the minority, but I agree with Madbum’s statement that if we let the young guys play their game we should let him play his. Of course, that comment is funny in itself since he’s only about a year older than Muncy. Yes, he’s overreacting most of the time, but that’s who he is, an extremely competitive guy who doesn’t like being shown up. I think it just adds more color to the game if we allow bat flips and pitchers screaming at hitters. If you recall, Buehler yelled at a hitter for not going back to the dugout fast enough during his game over the weekend and no one made a big deal out of it.
I don’t recall ever seeing Bumgarner throw at a hitter after giving up a homer so if he wants to scream at him as a circles the bases, I don’t have a problem with it. And if he hadn’t screamed at Max we would have never gotten to hear Max’s response, which should go down as one of the best comebacks of all time.
Thoughts…….is Cody hurting? Noticed he was not running hard to pick up a hit to right field a few times and he did not run with his blazing speed to first base. Could it be a leg strain? What causes a player to hit so well one week and the next striking out more often then usual. Pressure, trying too hard? Not a criticism just a little concern.